Live poultry catcher

ABSTRACT

A live poultry catcher for collection of poultry in a poultry house. The poultry catcher is mounted upon wheels and is provided with extensible pickup bars, which extend horizontally under the chicken or other type of poultry. The pickup bars are adapted to be rotated upwardly with protective tip guards to lift the chickens and move them along a protective shield to deposit the chickens under a hood upon conveyor belts which feed the chickens onto a central conveyor belt. The central conveyor belt feeds the chickens in an extensible conveyor hood to deposit them into a collection crate. By means of the extensible accordion-type conveyor hood, the poultry catcher, which extends from one side wall to an opposite wall or divider fence in a chicken house, can be propelled to collect the chickens by means of the pickup bars where they are then conveyed to a collection coop or crate. The poultry catcher is operated by one attendant and can provide for complete collection of poultry with a minimum of labor.

- uited States atertt [191 Christopher 1 Jan. 15, 1974 1 LIVE POULTRYCATCHER 22 Filed: July 3,1972

21 Appl.No.:268,571

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 48,921, June18, 1970, abandoned, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 78,345, Dec. 5,1968, abandoned.

[52] US. Cl 119/82, 119/151, 214/77 Primary Examiner-Hugh R. ChambleeAttorney-Glenn K. Robbins [57] ABSTRACT A live poultry catcher forcollection of poultry in a poultry house. The poultry catcher is mountedupon wheels and is provided with extensible pickup bars, which extendhorizontally under the chicken or other type of poultry. The pickup barsare adapted to be rotated upwardly with protective tip guards to liftthe chickens and move them along a protective shield to deposit thechickens under a hood upon conveyor belts which feed the chickens onto acentral conveyor belt. The central conveyor belt feeds the chickens inan extensible conveyor hood to deposit them into a collection crate. Bymeans of the extensible accordion-type conveyor hood, the poultrycatcher, which extends from one side wall to an opposite wall or dividerfence in a chicken house, can be propelled to collect the chickens bymeans of the pickup bars where they are then conveyed to a collectioncoop or crate. The poultry catcher is operated by one attendant and canprovide for complete collection of poultry with a minimum of labor.

17 Claimg lbbiawing liigiires PATENTEU JAN 1 5 1974 SHEET 1 0F 3 FIG. 2

INVENTOR JAMES E. CHRl5TOPHER ATTORNEYS PATENTED JAN 1 51974 sum 2 or 3ATTORNEYS SHEET 3 BF 3 PATENTEB JAN 1 5 I974 m R J, 0% 1 m m 90E moi r mmm R C 41 m E. m m s E M A 09 3. B W mm WW flwm m l [3.11 1| Eu mm 2 NOELIVE POULTRY QATCHEIR This is a continuation of application Ser. Nos.781,345 and 48,921, filed Dec. 5, 1968 and June 18, 1970, respectively,both now abandoned.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The poultry catcher of this invention isdesigned for use in large present day poultry houses. Modern poultryhouses are quite large, extending up to 500 feet and sometimes more inlength and 40 feet and more in width, containing 5,000 and upwards ofpoultry. The collection or catching of such poultry for delivery to themarket is a time consuming operation. By means of the instant inventionthe live poultry catcher can be used with only one attendant compared toupwards of ten laborers previously required, depending on the size ofthe operation.

The live poultry catcher is designed to extend across or partly acrossthe width of a poultry house or longitudinal sections and rides on railsor soft tires to drive forward to collect poultry in front and collectthem. The apparatus uses collecting pickup bars, which are extensiblefrom a retracted position to the front of the apparatus, to present thepickup bars in the manner of the teeth of a rake underneath thechickens. The chickens are then picked up by rotation of the pickupbars. The chickens, once placed on the pickup bars, tend to stay stilland not move very much. Tip guards'are provided at the front of thepickup bar. A protective shield or baffle is interposed between thepickup bars at their rear. The shield is slotted to pass the pickupbars, such that the chickens are delivered when they are elevated into ahood. The hood is provided with two horizontal and laterally directedconveyor belts which deposit the chickens into a central longitudinallyrunning conveyor belt as a collection point. The darkened hood enclosesand envelopes the chickens when they are deposited on the conveyorbelts. The chickens are quieted and do not panic, since the darknesscalms them.

After charging of the chickens onto the longitudinally running centralconveyor belt, the chickens are delivered into an extensible tunnelconveyor. This extensible tunnel conveyor is comprised of severalsections which are pivotally connected, such that the individualsections can be extended or compressed and folded together in thefashion of an accordion. After final delivery in the conveyor tunnelinto a pickup crate, the chickens are ready for delivery as required.

The above features are objects of this invention and further objectswill appear in the detailed description which follows and will beotherwise aparent to those skilled in the art.

For the purpose of illustration of this invention, there is shown in theaccompanying drawings a preferred'embodiment thereof. It is to beunderstood that these drawings are for the purpose of example only andthat the invention is not limited thereto.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the poultry catcher partly broken away; i

FIG. 1A is an enlarged fragmentary top plan view showing theinterfitting of the pickup bars with the top of the hood when the pickupbars are elevated;

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation of the poultry catcher;

FIG. 3 is a vertical view in section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIg. 4 is a vertical view in section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3; v

FIG. 5 is a horizontal view in section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view in vertical section of the pickup bar andtip guard;

FIG. 7 is a plan view on reduced scale showing the modified form of thepoultry catcher with an extensible discharge conveyor extended;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the modification of FIG. 7 in verticalsection without the tunnel hood, for the purpose of clarity, showing thedischarge central belt from the poultry catcher feeding on to theconveyor belt in the conveyor hood; and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary view partly in vertical sectionshowing the connection of one accordion section to adjacent conveyorsection.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawings, the poultrycatcher of this invention is generally identified by the referencenumeral 20 in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. As there shown, it is comprised of acatcher section 22 and a conveyor section 24, which is shown deliveringinto a crate 26 carried at the rear end of the conveyor section. Thepoultry catcher 22, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, is comprised of aframe 30, supporting a pair of front wheels 34 and rear wheels 36. Therear wheels are powered by a motor 38. A screw-type gear (not shown) toraise or lower the back wheels up or down with respect to the frame maybe furnished in order to change the angle of the pickup bars. This isprovided so the pickup bars can be adjusted to stay close to the groundlevel. The front wheels are flanged and are adapted to rideupon paralleltracks 40 extending adjacent the side walls along the length of thepoultry house. Soft rubber tires may be used also. Soft rubber may beused to prevent the machine from settling in the soft litter in thehouse. An operators seat 42 is mounted at the rear of the frame behindan operators panel 44 on which the apparatus control may be mounted.

At the front of the poultry catcher are closely spaced pick-up bars 46to which are pivotally connected tip guards 48 which rise to a verticalposition when the pickup bars are elevated to keep the chickens or otherpoultry from riding off the front end of the bars. A protective shieldor baffle 50 of fiber glass or other convenient material of constructionextends between the pickup bars to prevent damage to the chickens and toinsure that the ckickens ride on top of the bars without becomingentangled there-between. The leading edge of the baffle may have a softmaterial on it to prevent bru sing or injuring the poultry. This softmaterial may be covered with a plastic tape so poultry will glidesmoothly on to the conveyor. This is best understood by referring toFIGS. 1 and 4.

The pickup bars are mounted at their rear end upon a transverselyextending brace member 51 as shown in FIG. 5. The rear brace member inturn is connected by a pivot link 52 to a hydraulic lift cylinder 54, asshown in FIG. 4. The lift cylinder is mounted upon a guide track 56, asshown in FIG. 5, so that the entire lift cylinder can move to the frontand to the rear along said guides. The lift cylinder 54 is pivotallymounted by a pivot 58 to a carriage 60, which moves within the guidetrack 56.

A second hydraulic cylinder 62 is mounted at the rear of the frame. Thesecond hydraulic cylinder provides forward and rearward movement of apower shaft 64, which is connected at its front end to the transverselyextending support member 66. The support member 66 is slidably connectedto the guide 56 and the carriage 60 such that when the support member 66is retracted or moved forwardly it moves the hydraulic cylinder 54 withit to cause the forward or retracted movement of the pickup bars. Theoperation of the hydraulic cylinder 54 in turn causes the pivotalmovement of pickup bars as shown in FIG. 2. The hydraulic pump for thecylinders 54 and 62 is shown in FIG. 1 by a reference numeral 63 mountedat the rear of the frame.

The tip guards 48 are best shown in FIG. 6. The guards are pivotallyconnected by a pivot pin 68 to the forward end of the pickup bars 46.The rear of these pickup bars are provided with a counterweight 70 suchthat when the pickup bars are elevated the tip guards rotate to avertical position as shown in FIG. 2. It will be understood that insteadof weighting the rear ends they may also be spring loaded with a latchdevice or positive control means can be provided to the operators panelso that the operator can cause the vertical movement by conventionalcontrol mechanism as will be well understood in the art.

The top of the poultry catching section 22 as shown in FIG. 4 isprovided with a hood 72, which is open at the front. The hood encloses apair of oppositely rotating conveyor belts as shown in FIG. 3. Conveyorbelt 74 at the right hand portion of the machine and conveyor belt 76 atthe left hand portion of the machine operate in the position of thearrows so that the chickens discharged thereupon are moved to a centralcollection zone 77. Underlying the central collection zone is a centrallongitudinally extending conveyor belt 78. The conveyor belt 78, as willbe further described, moves the chickens to the rear of the apparatus tothe tunnel conveyor section 24.

The conveyor belt 74 is mounted upon support rollers 80 connected to theframe and the conveyor belt 76 likewise is connected to a pair ofrollers 62, also connected to the frame. A motor 84, as shown in FIG. 3through a power belt 86, provides motive powerto the rollers. The hood,as shown in FIG. 1A, is notched by notches 87 at the forward edge toreceive the pickup bars to cage the chickens as they are loaded into thehood. The pickup bars are not lowered until the chickens are dischargedby conveyor belts 74 and 76 to the central conveyor belt 78.

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 show a modified form of the apparatus using anextensible conveyor belt in the fashion of an accordion which can beextended through a considerable length of the poultry house to chargeinto a large collection receptacle, such as a truck or the like. Asthere shown, the central longitudinally extending conveyor 78 chargesinto the forward section 90 of the tunnel conveyor. As shown in FIG. 8,the conveyor 78 overlies conveyor 89 housed within the tunnel section90. Additional tunnel sections 92, 94, 96 and 98 are mounted upon wheelbases 100 provided with swivel wheels 102. Thus, as shown in FIG. 9,each of the tunnel sections will be provided with a conveyor belt asshown in FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. 9 shows a typical conveyor section in whicha top conveyor belt 89 is positioned over underlying conveyor belt 104.Powering rollers 106 to move the conveyor belt are mounted upon the base100. Swivel movement is effected by means of a journal I08 mounted on atransverse brace 110 on the base 100. A flexible sleeve 112 is providedbetween each of the sections to provide for the extension or collapsingof the conveyor sections in the fashion of an accordion.

The end section 98 of the conveyor is shown directed into a track 114parked at one end of the poultry house. The section 98 may be connectedat its rear end to the truck so that as the poultry catching apparatusadvances in the house the conveyor section is extended with the rear endremaining connected to the truck to discharge the collected poultry.

OPERATION In the operation of the poultry catcher, the apparatus isfirst placed at one end of the building with the tunnel conveyor sectioncollapsed where the modified form of FIGS. 7-10 is employed The rearconveyor section 98 may be charged into a pickup truck where thechickens are ultimately to be delivered. The apparatus extends from oneside of the house to the other so that all the chickens are to the frontof the machine. It will be understood that where the apparatus is not aswide as the building fences may be erected to channel the poultry infront of the apparatus.

In operation the apparatus is moved forwardly with the pickup barsextended horizontally and to the front of the machine. It will beunderstood that these pickup bars may be retracted until the apparatusis near the chickens, at which point the pickup bars can be extendedhorizontally so that the horizontally extending pickup bars and tipguards extend underneath the chickens. When the chickens are on top ofthe pickup bars, the operator will operate the hydraulic cylinder 54,which causes the counterclockwise rotation of the pickup bars as viewedin FIG. 4. As viewed in FIG. 2, the pickup bars will move in clockwisein an arc-like direction in the path of the full bodied arrow. As thepickup bars are elevated, the tip guards will move the vertical positiondue to the weights 70, thus confining the chickens on the pickup barsand the protective shield. The chickens will then ride upon the pickupbars and upon the top of the protective shield 50 to the top where theyare deposited upon the transversely running conveyor belts 74 and 76which run together to the central collection zone 77. The chickens arecaged within the darkened hood 72, and due to the darkened condition, tonot panic and simply ride upon the conveyor belts to the centrallongitudinally running conveyor belt 78.

In the modification shown in FIGS. l-6, the central conveyor belt 78enclosed in a hood or tunnel 79 charges directly into the collectioncrate 26.

In the embodiment employing the expandable tunnel section of FIGS. 7-10,the chickens ride upon each of the conveyors in the individual sections90, 92, 94, 96 and 98 to be ultimately deposited for collection into thepickup truck 114 or other collection container.

After the pickup of one load of chickens, the hydraulic cylinder 54 isextended to cause the downward movement of the pickup bars. The secondhydraulic cylinder 62 is also operated to cause the retraction of thepickup bars into the protective shield to prevent the pickup barsfalling on chickens in front of the apparatus. The downward andretracted movement of the pickup bars is shown in the dotted line inFIG. 2. The

apparatus is then ready for another operation and pickup of anadditional load of chickens in the same manner as previously described.

Various changes and modifications may be made within this invention aswill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes andmodifications are within the scope and teaching of this invention asdefined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A live poultry catching and loading device comprising a frame, meansfor propelling said frame along the ground, poultry support meansextensible under the poultry for elevating said poultry and depositingthem upon a conveyor means.

2. The device of claim 1 in which said extensible means comprises aplurality of longitudinally extending pick up bars, said bars beingclosely spaced to support the poultry thereon.

3. The device of claim 2 in which protective shield means are providedbetween said bars, said shield means extending to adjacent said conveyormeans.

41. The device of claim 1 in which tip guards are mounted at the endportions of said bars, said guards extending horizontally when the pickup bars are ex. tended and means for moving said guards to a verticalposition when said pick up bars are elevated to provide a guard for thechickens and prevent their falling off said bars.

5. The device of claim 2 in which said pick up bars are rotatablymounted on said frame, means for rotating the pick up to elevate thepoultry thereon and deposit the poultry onto said conveyor means.

6. The device of claim 5 in which said protective shield means isgenerally concentric with the rotational path of the pick up bars forguiding the poultry onto said conveyor means.

7. The device of claim 5 in which the pick up bars are rotatable to alimiting upward position in registry with a front opening of acollection hood, said conveyor means extending into said hoods to cagethe poultry in said hood and upon the conveyor means.

8.The device of claim 5 in which said pick up bars are provided withmeans for longitudinal retraction and advancement.

9. The device of claim 3 in which said pick up bars are provided withmeans for longitudinal retraction and advancement from a position behindand in front of said protective shield.

10. The device of claim 1 in which a pair of transverse belt conveyorsare provided at opposite sides of said frame to direct poultry chargedthereon to a cen tral longitudinally running conveyor belt means.

11. The device of Claim 10 in which said longitudinally running conveyorbelt means is enclosed by a protective light blocking tunnel.

12. The device of claim 11 in which the longitudinally running conveyorbelt means are comprised of a plurality of pivotally connected sections,whereby an end section may be stationed adjacent a collection means andthe intermediate sections may be expanded as the poultry loading deviceadvances.

13. A live poultry catching and loading device comprising a frame, meansfor propelling said frame along the ground, poultry support meansextensible under the poultry and a collection hood, said poultry supportmeans being movable from a poultry catching position to a loadingposition to load the poultry into said collection hood.

14. The loading device of claim 13 in which a transport means extendsinto said hood for transporting the poultry away from the hood.

15. A live poultry catching and loading device comprising a frame, meansfor propelling said frame along the ground, poultry support meansextensible under the poultry for elevating said poultry and depositingthem under a collection hood upon conveyor means extending into saidhood.

16. The device of claim 4 in which said tip guards are pivotally mountedon said bars and in which a rear portion of said guard has a greaterweight than a forward portion of said guards to cause said forwardportion to rise from a horizontal guard engaging position to a verticalguard position when said bars are elevated.

17. The device of claim 4 in which said tip guards are spring biased tocause a forward portion of said guards to rise from a horizontal guardengaging position to a vertical guard position when said bars areelevated.

1. A live poultry catching and loading device comprising a frame, meansfor propelling said frame along the ground, poultry support meansextensible under the poultry for elevating said poultry and depositingthem upon a conveyor means.
 2. The device of claim 1 in which saidextensible means comprises a plurality of longitudinally extending pickup bars, said bars being closely spaced to support the poultry thereon.3. The device of claim 2 in which protective shield means are providedbetween said bars, said shield means extending to adjacent said conveyormeans.
 4. The device of claim 1 in which tip guards are mounted at theend portions of said bars, said guards extending horizontally when thepick up bars are extended and means for moving said guards to a verticalposition when said pick up bars are elevated to provide a guard for thechickens and prevent their falling off said bars.
 5. The device of claim2 in which said pick up bars are rotatably mounted on said frame, meansfor rotating the pick up to elevate the poultry thereon and deposit thepoultry onto said conveyor means.
 6. The device of claim 5 in which saidprotective shield means is generally concentric with the rotational pathof the pick up bars for guiding the poultry onto said conveyor means. 7.The device of claim 5 in which the pick up bars are rotatable to alimiting upward position in registry with a front opening of acollection hood, said conveyor means extending into said hoods to cagethe poultry in said hood and upon the conveyor means.
 8. The device ofclaim 5 in which said pick up bars are provided with means forlongitudinal retraction and advancement.
 9. The device of claim 3 inwhich said pick up bars are provided with means for longitudinalretraction and advancement from a position behind and in front of saidprotective shield.
 10. The device of claim 1 in which a pair oftransverse belt conveyors are provided at opposite sides of said frameto direct poultry charged thereon to a central longitudinally runningconveyor belt means.
 11. The device of claim 10 in which saidlongitudinally running conveyor belt means is enclosed by a protectivelight blocking tunnel.
 12. The device of claim 11 in which thelongitudinally running conveyor belt means are comprised of a pluralityof pivotally connected sections, whereby an end section may be stationedadjacent a collection means and the intermediate sections may beexpanded as the poultry loading device advances.
 13. A live poultrycatching and loading device comprising a frame, means for propellingsaid frame along the ground, poultry support means extensible under thepoultry and a collection hood, said poultry support means being movablefrom a poultry catching position to a loading position to load thepoultry into said collection hood.
 14. The loading device of claim 13 inwhich a transport means extends into said hood for transporting thepoultry away from the hood.
 15. A live poultry catching and loadingdevice comprising a frame, means for propelling said frame along theground, poultry support means extensible under the poultry for elevatingsaid poultry and depositing them under a collection hood upon conveyormeans extending into said hood.
 16. The device of claim 4 in which saidtip guards are pivotally mounted on said bars and in which a rearportion of said guard has a greater weight than a forward portion ofsaid guards to cause said forward portion to rise from a horizontalguard engaging position to a vertical guard position when said bars areelevated.
 17. The device of claim 4 in which said tip guards are springbiased to cause a forward portion of said guards to rise from ahorizontal guard engaging position to a vertical guard position whensaid bars are elevated.